


Our Dad is a Million in One!

by Saifa



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Bullying, Dadster, Gen, Skelefam, Skelefamily, Snowdin, baby bones, skelebros, skelebros as kids
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-12
Updated: 2019-01-12
Packaged: 2019-10-08 20:22:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,619
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17393099
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Saifa/pseuds/Saifa
Summary: While trying to make friends, Sans and Papyrus are bullied by another monster for having a different family than what she considers normal. Afterwards, they go see their father and are upset about the incident. Gaster  gives them a lesson on families they will never forget.





	Our Dad is a Million in One!

**Author's Note:**

  * For [bulle_blackhole](https://archiveofourown.org/users/bulle_blackhole/gifts).



> Back up gift for the UTSS 2018 winter event. Hope you like it, Bulle. Sorry it was delayed.
> 
> Edit: Formatting fixed. Sorry about that.

           “Hey, can we play?” Papyrus shouted excitedly. He ran clumsily through the snow, boots sinking nearly to the top, with his brother in tow. They neared the edge of the woods to where a rabbit, mouse, and squirrel monster were finishing the walls of their snow fort. When they came to a stop, Papyrus leaned over and braced his hands against his knees as he caught his breath. Meanwhile, his brother plopped down in the snow with a lazy grin, looking perfectly content with the frozen nest he found himself in. “I’m The Great Papyrus, and this is my lazy brother, Sans. We’re new to Snowdin and were wondering if you’d want to be friends!”

           “Of course!” the rabbit monster said brightly. “I’m Lily.”

           “I’m Riley,” the mouse mumbled in a squeak through their scarf. “We were just about to play House now that the walls are done. Who do you want to be?”

           “Can I be the pet rock?” Sans winked with a widening grin. “It’s my best act,  _ granite  _ it’s the only act I’ve tried.

           “Oh my god, Sans! Don’t embarrass me in front of our new friends!”

           Lily giggled behind her mittens. “That’s fine. We’ve never had a pet rock before. It’ll be fun!”

           “Heh, cool,” Sans chuckled.

           “Oh, can I be the mom?” Papyrus piped up. He pressed his mittens to his cheeks and wiggled enthusiastically. “I think I can be a great mom!”

           “Hang on, aren’t you the sons of the Royal Scientist?” the squirrel asked in a vaguely sour tone. She squinted her eyes while looking the brothers over.

           “That’s us! Our dad is the one and only Royal Scientist. He’s really, really smart!” Papyrus said proudly while puffing out his chest with hands on his hips and beaming widely. “Hey, maybe after we play House, would you all want to come over for some hot chocolate?”

           The squirrel shook her head. “Sorry guys, but I don’t think you can play with us.”

           “What? Why, April?” Lily asked.

           “Because they don’t know how to play!” April grumbled, while biting her cheek and crossing her arms.

           Sans raised a brow at April, but his smile remained, if only a little smaller.

           Papyrus tilted his head in confusion. “We’ve played House before, unless you play a different version of it than the one we’re familiar with? You could teach us that one! I assure you we are very smart, being the sons of the Royal Scientist after all! No worries in us not understanding.”

           “You don’t get it. You’ll never get it,” April fired back.

           “April, it’s just a game. I’m sure if we gave them an easy role, we can all have fun,” Riley whispered nervously. Their fingers fidgeted with the fringed ends of their scarf.

           “No, Riley! How can we have fun with them? Papyrus can’t be the mom, because they don’t have a mom to begin with. How can they know what a mom does in House?”

           “April, that’s mean!” Lily gasped.

           “What? It’s true! Kids from broken families are not allowed!” April continued forcefully.

           “B-but…” Papyrus cringed. His smile dropped for a moment. 

           Sans slowly got up and brushed the snow off of his clothes. He patted his brother’s shoulder. “Paps, let’s just go. Dad got us that new puzzle, remember?” he said in a low and calm voice. He tried to steer his brother away, but Papyrus remained rooted in place.

           “But Sans, it’s okay! Our family is so great, we don’t need a mom! Our dad is the best, because he is two in one! We’ve learned plenty from him-!”

           “I said you can’t play with us!” April shouted. She pushed hard against Papyrus’ chest, knocking him backwards into the densely packed snow.

           Papyrus stared up at April in surprise. Fighting back tears, he wanted to believe he could convince April, that she didn’t mean such horrible things.

           April knelt down to compress snow in between her gloved hands. Standing up, she cradled three baseball sized snowballs in her arms, then threw one point blank at Papyrus face. “Go home! I don’t want you two to ruin our game.”

           The stinging, wet cold sloshed into Papyrus’ eye sockets. He fell flat on his back, stunned at what April did..

           “April, s-stop!” Riley squeaked in alarm. They tried to tug on her arm, but another snowball had already flown through the air. It hit Sans in the back as he shielded his brother from the attack.

           Lily looked distraught at the brothers’ treatment. She jumped over the wall to help Papyrus up, but her outstretched hand only caught snowflakes.

           The brothers were gone, leaving the three alone in the fort.

  
  


           “O-oh, Dr. Gaster, your boys are here to see you,” an intern called nervously from the door to his office. She gripped her clipboard tightly, uncertain how to handle the brothers. “I-I know you said you didn’t want to be bothered, but…”

           Gaster paused his string of calculations, then quickly finished it to completion lest he lose his train of thought. Swiveling around in his chair, he saw Papyrus rubbing an arm at his eye sockets with his head hung low. The normally energetic and upbeat boy was sniffling and ignoring the soft encouragements and reassurances from his brother. Sans had an arm around him, his smile pained as he looked at Gaster.

           “Thank you, I’ll take it from here,” Gaster said, briefly nodding to the intern, who shuffled away awkwardly. Frowning, the doctor rose to his feet and crossed the room to kneel in front of them. “How now, boys? Why the tears?” He placed a hand on their shoulders and gave them a reassuring squeeze.

           Neither of the brothers spoke.

           “I can’t help you if you don’t tell me,” Gaster said softly.

           “It’s nothing,” Sans grumbled. “We just had a bad day.”

           “Must be some bad day,” Gaster said, turning to Papyrus worriedly.

           Papyrus looked at his father through tears. When he tried to speak, all that came forth was a low croak.

           “A horrible day in fact to make even The Great Papyrus weep.” Gaster wiped Papyrus’ tears away, then drew him into a hug. He pressed the side of his head against his son’s and rocked him.

           After a long silence, Papyrus shifted in Gaster’s arms. “Is our family broken?” he asked in a small voice.

           “Where did you ever get that idea?” Gaster asked, baffled. He turned Papyrus so he could see his face. “Papyrus, talk to me,” he cooed while caressing his son’s cheek.

           Sans made a clicking sound out of irritation through his bitter smile. He crossed his arms and looked away to glare at a wall. “Papyrus wanted to try making friends. We found some kids and he asked if we could play with them. The first two were nice, but…”

           “April said we couldn’t play House, because we didn’t know how to since we don’t have a mom...”

           “I see…” Gaster said, voice falling.

           “‘Kids from broken families are not allowed.’” Sans quoted icily. “That’s what she said.”

           “And that’s where you got the idea,” Gaster sighed.

           The brothers nodded.

           “Oh, my boys…” Gaster drew Sans into his arms and hugged the both of them tightly.

           “So, why don’t we have a mom?” Sans asked in a low voice.

           Gaster hummed pensively. “Perhaps I should have told you before. It’s my fault for putting it off. I never thought it would bother you two, but I forget children can be so cruel at times. But I first want you to know that I am truly lucky to have sons as thoughtful and caring as you, and that I am so proud of you both. Understand?”

           “Yeah, okay…” Sans mumbled halfheartedly.

           Papyrus nodded weakly as he clung to his father’s jacket. The dynamics of their family never bothered him before, but the malicious gibe stung like frostbite. He didn’t understand why the differences April pointed out hurt so deeply.

           “You two are my greatest achievements. I created you both by myself, because I wanted a family to love, but I want you to never think of yourselves as experiments. Sans, Papyrus, you are forever my sons, and you two have enriched my life so deeply. It distresses me, just as it would any parent, to hear someone else’s child made such a hurtful remark.”

           By now, Papyrus’ tears had stopped. He sniffled, nodding as he absorbed his father’s words, but more questions only cropped up. He didn’t have the energy to ask them though. He looked to Sans, who was equally deep in thought.

           “We can discuss more about it later, but right now I don’t want you to focus on that. What I want you to learn from all this is that families come in different forms, and there is not a single one that is the standard. Throughout my career, I have worked with many briliant colleagues who were also single parents, as well as those who were both mothers or fathers with their spouses. I have had friends whose guardians were their grandparents, aunts, uncles, brothers, sisters… And they were loved just as deeply and equally. One is not intrinsically better than the other, and anyone who thinks otherwise is foolish.”

           “Really?” Papyrus asked.

           “Of course. I am the Royal Scientist after all,” Gaster teased lightly. He hugged his sons tighter than before and nuzzled them both.

           Sans nudged Papyrus and grinned weakly at him. “Yeah, it’s like you said, bro. Our dad is so great, he’s two guardians in one. Perhaps even ten guardians!”

           Papyrus smiled at that. “No, he’s a hundred!”

           “A thousand.”

           “A million!”

           “I can be whatever number you want me to be,” Gaster chuckled.


End file.
